Deputy announces candidacy for sheriff

KASSON, Minn. — There has been a lot of turmoil in Dodge County with the sheriff’s office lately and more changes could be coming.

The deputy who was third in command passed away in September from a heart attack and just last month, Sheriff Jim Jensen fired his chief deputy for what he calls a lack of loyalty, but things are not settled yet.

Gary Thompson now calls Breezy Point home, but most of his life has been with the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office.

Some of that time he was the boss. For six years until he retired in 2009, he was the Dodge County Sheriff.

“I’m seeing some things that have gone on that I just feel strongly that there’s a need for change in leadership here,” Thompson said.

Someone he thinks can help with that change is Scott Rose. The current deputy in the investigation department announced his candidacy for sheriff in front of a crowd of nearly 200 people in Kasson.

“We’ve been looking at this for a few months, so some of the recent things that have happened at the sheriff’s office have just ended up being timing. It’s not something that we expected,” Rose said.

He said he wants to keep the bones of the department together with some minor changes.

“We’re going to talk about the department, we’re going to talk about the team, we’re going to talk about our captains, our sergeants, our supervisors. We’ve already got a great group of leaders, they’re just in need of some more positive direction,” Rose said.

That is what Thompson said made his drive from Breezy Point worth it.

“I’ll do anything and everything to help him. Anything Scott needs I’m here for him. I feel strongly about the need for a change here and I’ll do whatever it takes,” Thompson said.

Rose said that he was expecting that Captain Loring Guenther would run for sheriff this time around until he died at the age of 43 this fall. When that happened , Rose said he felt it was time for him to take over.

Jensen tells us that he will be making the decision on whether he will be running again by the time filing comes around. When asked what he thought about Rose’s decision, he said that everyone is entitled to their own opinion.